Educator Opened Youngsters' Eyes To Adventures In Reading

That is what friends and contemporaries thought of Catherine ''Kate'' Nash.

The retired Seminole County schoolteacher died last week at 75 years of age, leaving behind her a legacy of innovative teaching methods and learning enthusiasts.

''She was one of those people for whom teaching was more than a job, a profession, it was a life's work,'' said Karen Coleman, school spokeswoman, who knew her since 1960.

During her 27 years of teaching, Nash taught English for 18 years at Sanford Middle School. Two years before she retired in 1979, Nash was a special education teacher at Seminole High School.

Nash was especially creative teaching children with different abilities how to read, her friends said. Reading labs in Seminole County schools, with ''nooks and crannies and carousels with children working on different things,'' were Nash's idea, said Belle Rumbley, a retired teacher, who knew Nash for 26 years.

''Her contribution to children is inestimable,'' said Rumbley, a Seminole County teacher for 39 years.

Among Nash's most tangible accomplishments was a program that teaches children to read by typing. The program was immortalized in the 1974 book The Write to Read, which Nash co-authored with Charlotte Geyer, coordinator of the Seminole County school system's secondary language arts program.

With the help of colored letters and color-coated keys, the teaching method enables children to read as they learn to type. The program was adopted in 1982 by the state Department of Education and recently was revised for use with computer key boards.

Nash also helped found the Seminole Reading Council, said Geyer, who knew Nash since 1960. Also, Nash served as a director of the Florida Reading Coucil and was an active member of the Alpha Delta Kappa honorary teachers sorority and the Sanford Woman's Club.